Results have been mixed through his first four seasons as the Bears' top quarterback. The team made the playoffs once, and Cutler missed half a season worth of games. When healthy, his performance was inconsistent.

So far, that's made Cutler the shakiest of investments. It started with the Bears including two first-round picks in the trade to acquire him from the Denver Broncos in 2009. It continued that October, when he got $20 million guaranteed as part of a five-year deal worth nearly $50 million.

Cutler is signed through only 2013, and if he doesn't deliver on big expectations this season, there's a good chance it will be his last season in Chicago.

"I don't think the Bears are married to Jay Cutler right now," said former Bears quarterback Jim Miller, now an analyst for Sirius XM NFL Radio. "We can say he's a franchise quarterback because he has all the skills — big arm, athletic. But he's been often injured, and he's been inconsistent. They need to see him take the next big step."

The Bears are taking a step in a different direction. They were so frustrated with their continued struggles to move the ball last season that it cost defensive-minded coach Lovie Smith his job. Enter seasoned offensive specialist Marc Trestman.

When Smith was fired at the end of last season, Cutler said "change isn't always a bad thing." Trestman's hiring, however, is just the latest change of many that the Bears have made to cater to Cutler.

Trestman will be Cutler's fourth offensive play-caller in five years. Ron Turner was dismissed after Cutler threw 26 interceptions in 2009. The two-year Mike Martz experiment blew up big in the Bears' faces, with Cutler being sacked often and more often miffed. It took one year to figure out that Mike Tice wasn't the answer as the next coordinator.

Last offseason, the Bears dipped twice into Cutler's more successful past in Denver. Their acquisition of elite wide receiver Brandon Marshall reunited Cutler with his favorite target. They brought in Jeremy Bates, his old quarterbacks coach in Denver. They also drafted a promising complementary receiver in Alshon Jeffery.

The Marshall plan did work, but as Trestman is charged with the task of reinventing Cutler in Chicago, that means helping him forget about everything that hasn't worked with the Bears.

"He is looking at Cutler as a whole new canvas, a piece of art he's trying to polish it," Miller said. "It will have Trestman's mark on it. He'll tell him to scrap everything he learned from Martz, and everything he learned from Tice, and say, 'You're my guy now.' "

Trestman didn't keep Bates, but he and new QBs coach Matt Cavanaugh are installing a West Coast offense similar to what Cutler enjoyed in Denver under Mike Shanahan. Along with Trestman and Cavanaugh, the Bears also brought in former New Orleans Saints assistant Aaron Kromer to help fix the consistent problem that has been the offensive line.

In addition to shorter drops in the passing game and better pass protection, the Bears also plan to give Cutler a legitimate receiving threat at tight end — something they have missed since trading away his friend and former go-to guy Greg Olsen two years ago.

Now it will be on Cutler to take everything in which the Bears have invested around him, to become the comfortable, confident quarterback they thought they were getting when he was such a coveted commodity.

The Bears showed great patience with Cutler. That patience, however, has grown to its thinnest in one of the NFL's most demanding markets and most competitive divisions. Over the past two seasons, they have seen NFC North rivals Green Bay, Detroit and Minnesota all find their offensive groove and get into the playoffs while they have been left behind.

That wasn't good enough for the Bears to stick with Smith. If Cutler doesn't take advantage of his latest fresh start, quarterback will be the next big change they make.